Interview by Southeast Idaho DSA officer Ricky with help from officer Megan speaking with Pocatello to Palestine organizers Rachael, Sarah, and Cameron (April 2024). Pocatello for Palestine is a grassroots organization that has been diligently hosting weekly protests each Saturday in Pocatello since December 2023.

Did you know about Palestine before October 7th?  What did you hear? What were your opinions? 

Rachael I didn’t know anything. No literally. I had heard of the Gaza Strip vaguely and I knew that it was like a high conflict zone and that was it.

Sarah I’m almost on the opposite spectrum of that, where I had never heard of Palestine at all. But I’d heard of Israel growing up in a very Christian household. And so I was of the opinion that Israel was the only thing there. That Palestine didn’t exist. I didn’t know they existed. I thought it was just Israel the whole time. And yeah, that the Jews were God’s chosen people. So I’ve kind of done a 180 since then.

Cameron I feel like before everything happened, I definitely didn’t know anything. If you said, “Palestine”. I’m like, cool, what country is that? Where is that at? I saw myself …as very progressive but I knew nothing. I remember seeing what was happening on TikTok. I remember October 7th happening. I’m like, wow, this is really terrible. And then I saw everything that followed.

How did you find out about October 7th? How did you shift from not knowing, to a pro-Palestine stance?

Rachael TikTok.

Cameron TikTok. 

Sarah Totally TikTok. And from [Cameron]. To actually see people that were on the ground experiencing things and being like, oh my god, that’s a cute little child. Why is this happening to them? 

Rachael The images. It was the on the ground images that did it. It was just like, how are we watching this?

Sarah And then seeing the Jewish Voice for Peace movement take off so hardcore was a big step for me too. 

I think when October 7th happened, the U.S propaganda machine turned on. CNN, Fox News, ect, started pumping out propaganda but they didn’t expect people were more likely to pick up their phones and go on Twitter or TikTok and see the other side of the conflict. It’s very easy to cut through the bullshit from the mainstream media when you’re seeing what’s actually happening.

Cameron I remember the immediate propaganda, or maybe not as much propaganda but it was those concert people, the ones that the Israelis gunned down their own civilians. They talked about how they were all hiding because they were scared of Hamas and their attack. I thought this was wild, you know, and then I saw what actual fear and actually being attacked looked like through Bisan*, because she was talking about how people in ambulances and buses full of children on the safe route that was specifically told to them, got bombed

How did Pocatello to Palestine begin? How did you guys meet?

Rachael The high school students had organized the first protest. At that point I was sitting at home just overwhelmed, not knowing what to do. So I started an Instagram page thinking “maybe I’ll meet other people that are interested in this.” Then Megan reached out to me on Instagram, I had no idea who you (Megan) were and you were like “are you the same one that’s on Facebook?” and I said “no” but then you said “okay, well there is another protest happening”. So you got me interested in the next protest and then that’s where I met [Sarah and Cameron]. And then after that, we started talking and we were like, let’s do this next week.

Sarah We just kept coming back every single week and building that relationship.

That’s super impressive. I think one of the big obstacles for leftist movements in America in general is organizing. So for you guys to be able to do that in such a short time frame and so naturally is incredibly impressive.

Cameron I think it was collective outrage.

What inspired your group to start organizing and protesting and raising awareness specifically? Like, was it just collective outrage? 

Cameron Genocide. 

Rachael I was so relieved to find you guys. I was so helpless and despairing before so I was really happy to find everybody.

Cameron We felt alone

Megan Honestly, in Pocatello you really do feel alone if you’re outside of the norm. 

Rachael It’s awesome that you connected us. I don’t think this would have happened without you making that connection.

Megan All I did was just say that you’re not alone and I think you guys did the rest. Which I think is awesome but definitely a true testament to organizing. It’s inspiring, specifically the Pocatello to Palestine protest, to get out there because I think people are seeing and thinking “oh, well, actually, I’m not just the only one”. 

Rachael I know. For me, I was constantly surprised by how many people honked and waved in support of us at protests, too. 

Megan The first time you guys got together and some people brought over hot chocolates, everybody was like, that was so cute. Everybody was so happy.

Sarah People kept coming and bringing us treats and stuff. We got pizza one time. We got donuts too. 

How has protesting for Palestine affected your relationship? This topic is something that is inherently very controversial, and for me personally, it has caused friction with certain people. 

Cameron Mine’s been weird. I’ve always had kind of a strained relationship with my family. I grew up in a bit of a toxic household but I still love them for some reason, so we try to make things work. I remember coming to them about it and they’re like “oh yeah, we care” and then that was it. I would purposely try to fit it in, like “hey, we’re doing a protest or this or that” and felt a bit ignored. Honestly, I think it’s kind of made relationships harder. Because I feel like my family is choosing to shut their eyes. My sister ghosted me after it for a bit. That was fun. 

Sarah We also have a whole friend group that we don’t talk to anymore. About four or five people. The whole time when this first started we were always talking to them about it and being like, you should boycott Starbucks, boycott McDonald’s, do all this stuff. And one of them who was…

Cameron …My best friend… 

Sarah …He pretended to care for months and then it came out his girlfriend was pro-Israel and he actually just doesn’t give a fuck. We kind of lost our entire friend group over that situation. And the one friend we do still have from that, she just doesn’t really care. So it’s really hard to be friends with people when it feels like they’re just going about their life like there’s not a genocide happening right now. Just acting like it’s normal. “Oh, that’s super sad, but I still want starbucks”. I haven’t talked to my family about it at all because I don’t even want to, 

because I know how my parents are

Cameron Your parents are tyrants. 

Sarah Yeah.

Rachal Are they still very Christian? 

Sarah They’re probably Zionists. 

Cameron They won’t change. My parents could change but her parents will not change. 

Sarah So my relationship is the group (Pocatello to Palestine). I just made new friends, so it’s great. 

Rachael Mine’s a little bit varied. I have a Mormon family, and they are kind of implicitly Zionist but not really evangelical about it. And so my family’s pretty open to talking about it, and they’ve seen all my posts and stuff, so they ask about it. My mom is actually pretty supportive. I think she’s pro-Palestine now because she’s seen how much information I’ve put out there. I have friends who are … pretty supportive but a little apathetic. Just like, “you do you”. I’ve made a new good group though. 

I know being vocal and being an advocate for these kinds of things can cause a lot of strain on relationships. It has for me. Because I’ve always been very open about my political views, most people that know me already know my opinions, so I don’t think it shocked very many people when I started condemning Israel after October 7th. But a few of them tried to reach out and wanted to argue.

Because you guys have written to representatives and local officials and talked to them, what’s been your experience with working with representatives and local officials on the subject  of palestine? 

Rachael I’m sure we all have the same experience. We get those blanket responses like “thank you for reaching out to me! On October 7th…”. 

Sarah I mean, Nate Roberts, when we went and talked to him, he did say that he would try to put out a resolution for a ceasefire or something to that regard, but he hasn’t. So he was like yeah we’ll do something and that was what, a month or two months ago? 

Rachael Paul (another member of their group), Sarah, and I went to a meeting and Paul really pushed Senator Roberts and talked to him after and was like “you need to write a bill like we need to cut off our economic ties with Israel”. I don’t know if you’ve ever talked to Nate Roberts. He’s very personable. And so you could tell he was kind of trying to appease us. He was like, “well, it’ll never pass”.

Sarah He just sounded like he was scared because if he puts something out there, then he’s going to lose his seat in office because of the republicans. Blaming it all on the Republicans and then also saying “well, we just worry about local issues and we’re here, unlike congress or representatives, we’re local” or whatever. So yeah, that’s pretty much how it’s like to talk to our other reps. 

Rachael I even told it to his face. I was like, “we have talked to our other reps and they’re ignoring us”. He just said “I’m already alienated as a Democrat, I can’t do much”.

I’ve never personally met Nate Roberts or any of the Democrats that are local to the area but I have talked to people who have met Nate and that seems to be his common response “I care about you but I don’t know if I want to advocate for this or that right now”. So then what is he there for? What is he doing? 

So to follow-up that last question, how has that affected your perspective of the American political system? Because we grow up with this idea that our representatives and elected officials are our voice. That’s how we are told American “democracy” works.

Rachael It was already in the garbage.

Sarah I mean I already knew lobbying was a thing and that it was ruining our country because of corporations and this and that and the other, and then I found AIPAC and I was like wow it’s just a foreign government controlling us, isn’t it? 

Rachael I was definitely a Democrat. I was very “vote blue no matter who”. I voted for Obama, and then I voted for Biden. I think I voted for Jill Stein. But after this, it’s like seeing the emperor without his clothes. You know that story? All of a sudden, it’s like, none of this fucking matters, none of this is going to do anything, and I just I see the Democrats and Republicans as the exact same thing now.

Cameron What flavor of genocide do you want, red or blue? 

Megan It’s crazy how they pretend to argue against each other back and forth but then when stuff like this happens, they are both on the same side. 

Considering that people in America think anti-Zionism is antisemitism, how do you guys navigate potential criticisms and misinterpretations about the Palestinian cause within local communities? Specifically, how do you address the fact that a lot of people think that being anti-Zionist is antisemitic? 

Sarah Pointing to the Jewish voice of peace is a pretty good stopping point right there. 

Cameron I don’t put those two together, Zionist and Jewish are two very different things. 

Sarah There are Jews that are being killed by Zionists in Palestine right now. 

And there are Zionists that are being antisemitic to Jews.

Rachael I would just say those things. I don’t know if we have a strategy or what.

Cameron I guess if we might consider this, I really try to push as much positivity as possible. I feel like it does kind of look bad on us to respond negatively to the people. It just makes us look exactly like what’s on the news or what they want us to respond like.

Rachael We’ve had people pull over and yell at us stuff like we’re Hitler or call us terrorists but we generally try to ignore it.

Because Idaho is so conservative and in a lot of ways very far-right, what has been your experience protesting weekly on this issue? Like you guys have been out there in force for almost every week since this started happening. What’s that like? What’s protesting for Palestine in Idaho like?

Rachael It’s mostly really fun.

Cameron  I think it’s mostly been very positive, the people who react negatively are really only a small amount of people. When they do, they’re quite extreme about it, usually with threats. This last protest somebody pretended to throw a grenade at us, that’s not very common, but it happens.  

Rachael there are a few people here and there that will yell “get a job” or whatever. A few of them yelled “terrorists!” or something like that. But for the most part, it’s very energizing and encouraging. 

It’s very eye-opening because, once again, growing up in Idaho, I was like, everybody’s a conservative. Putting yourself out there is putting a target on your back. But from the times that I have been out protesting with you guys, I feel like it was five supportive thumbs up for every flip off. It seems like it’s way more positive than it is negative which is crazy to think about in Idaho.

Sarah I think this issue has changed a lot of people’s minds.

Cameron I disagree with left and right but I’m very conservative too, I like my guns and this and that and the other. I feel like there’s plenty of conservative people that care about this issue, they just don’t show it. 

Because you guys have been out there constantly since this all started. How is burnout affecting your group? 

Cameron So, I will explain a time that I burned out a little bit. There was about a month where I just was like… You fall into despair when you don’t see a lot of change happening to such a horrific thing. It’s really hard to see a point of continuing but I think after a bit and then continuing watching it happen and realize, oh if I do absolutely nothing at all then nothing will change. I would rather not live with regrets later on. 

Rachael It’s definitely difficult to stay on top of the news and not get depressed. We did stop our weekly protest, officially. We decided to have a poll, because it was just the same thing every week and it felt like it wasn’t going anywhere. We have taken a break the last couple weeks but there are still people wanting to go out every week. 

Sarah We’re just trying to change what we’re doing a little bit, so that it’s not just the same protest every single week. We’re just still in the process of figuring it out but we have things we’re planning. We still want to protest.

What do you think a community of activists can do to help that burnout? Specifically, there’s a lot of people in DSA who are very interested and passionate about Palestine, and would love to help. So what would be your advice to them? How can they help you guys not burn out and help carry this project forward? 

Cameron Cocaine? 

Rachael  For me, there was a DSA meeting, I think, in February. I was super depressed, super burnt out. And we had a DSA zoom meeting and you guys were talking about how we needed to do our May Day potluck and just keep having community even if it’s just us doing something fun. It made me feel like, okay I can keep going. So sometimes for me it’s going to a movie or doing something that doesn’t necessarily have to do with anything heavy but still like building relationships.

Megan We definitely want to do more community-based stuff and more activities to get everybody involved because, once again, all of us are like, wow, I just thought it was us. But it’s all of us.

Rachael But you guys, I feel like DSA has so much knowledge. You have so many smart people that have been doing this stuff and unionizing and stuff. So that helps, too. I can just throw a question in the discord and someone helps out. 

Sarah Just getting together like [Rachael] said. Kind of just hanging out or throwing ideas out like communicating with each other.

So you guys had your education fair, right? And I thought that was incredibly important. I thought it was a great event. We attended and learned a lot. It was very, very cool. What was your experience getting that together, and are there any plans for another one down the road? 

Rachael We don’t have plans yet, but we probably could.

Sarah It was Rachael’s idea. 

Cameron Yeah, [Rachael] coordinated it. 

Rachael But really when I’d ask people “what should we do, guys?” So many would answer that we needed to educate people. “We need to educate people”. So then I just called the library, got the room reserved, and then started talking to people, getting people to commit to presenting. It was kind of hard to get people to commit. People didn’t want to, you know, they were nervous, but it went well. Then Sarah made that awesome pamphlet. Cameron taught us Dabke and that was awesome.

What other political passions do you have? Besides just being pro-Palestinian? A lot of things are intersectional. What other political passions rile you up?

Rachael– Landback. I have all these visions of buying Lava Hot Springs if I was rich and giving it back to the reservation. That used to be sacred for the tribes. So yeah, landback. And colonialism, that’s big for me. 

Cameron I like the planet a little bit. I’m always outside. We live right next to [a local grocery store] and there’s so much trash that comes in. I called [the store] a bunch about getting them to clean up the trash that’s along the fence lining and they did, and I actually got super happy. They cleaned up and then they continued to clean it, and now they’re cleaning more areas around there and that made me super happy. So environmentalism. I love the planet. I mean everyone should love the planet. 

Sarah Same for both of those things. But also since learning about your group (DSA) I’ve been looking into socialism more and more. I’m just realizing how capitalism is absolutely poison for the world because big corporations just hoard all of the wealth and leave nothing for the common worker who are the people who actually are doing all the work.

Cameron Isn’t it that the boomers own how much? 

Sarah The boomers own half of America’s wealth right now. 

Cameron And how much of the world’s wealth? 

Sarah 15% of the world’s wealth. Just the boomers. They’re just hoarding it. It’s just the private ownership of public resources.

Last question. What would you like to see going forward with Pocatello in Palestine? What are your long-term goals with this group and organization? 

Cameron Ceasefire. 

Rachael Ceasefire.

Sarah Stopping arms exports to Israel, but we are very grassroots. We don’t have a set structure for how we’re doing things; we’re just trying to figure it out as we go. It’s literally week by week. We’re like, okay, what are we doing this week? 

Megan And this is what the reality of organizing looks like. 

Sarah So we are always welcoming any new people who want to come and help. You don’t have to wait for us to tell you to do anything. We always welcome ideas.

Is there anything else you guys would like to add?

Cameron– Free Palestine. 

Follow Pocatello for Palestine on Instagram

*Bisan Owda was a journalist on the ground in Gaza during the genocide